Orbs Of Fate
by Aya An
Summary: After that fateful night 17 years ago, Four orbs of fate have been realeased out into the world for power and security for the villages. But when evil forces unite to steal the orbs for their own benefit, can Naruto stop Saskue and a person from his past?
1. Chapter 1 Murderer

Unknown Family

_Orbs of Fate_

_By: Aya An_

Alarms sounded. The Leaf Village was in chaos. A red, menacing figure slowly walked up towards the village gates.

Ninjas of all ranks rushed towards the enormous creature. Its eyes burned red inside its sockets, and its nine tails moved and spun like a mutated windmill. The Leaf Village had never seen anything like it before. Many were hit by the tail, or paws. Some were killed instantly, some lay on the ground waiting for death to come. Among all the chaos, no one saw a dark figure, cloaked in a cape, with white bordered red clouds contrasting against the fine black silk. The figure entered the village, a few minutes later, returning with a red- headed infant. But he did no go unnoticed. A young, red headed woman jumped over the city walls, and rushed at him, weapons raised, chakra ready. She didn't see or know who was under that cape. The only thing she saw was her young daughter in the arms of the stranger. She attacked. The stranger parried easily, and a reptilian head came out of seemingly no where, and grabbed her shoulder and threw her. She landed hard, and it took a few seconds longer to get up, with poison sinking in her shoulder. She looked around quickly, and saw the figure had vanished. Along with her daughter. Feeling sick, she realized who the stranger was.

--Fourteen Years Later…

BAM.

The tree now had a huge hole in it. The maker of the hole, was a tall, blue eyed, blonde haired boy. His muscular body was shaking from the effort, but he looked somewhat triumphant.

"Naruto! Are you planning to destroy the forest today?" Naruto turned, and saw one of his best friends, Sakura, walking towards him, an orange and black jacket slung over her arm.

"Hey Sakura!!" Naruto said, waving .

"Shizune finished sewing it up," She said, tossing it over. "She wanted me to return it to you."

"Thanks Sakura! And tell Shizune thanks too!" He said, as he tied the jacket around his waist. It was too hot today to wear it.

"Plus, Tsunde has a mission for you, me and Sai. Katashi's coming with us too this time," She said smiling.

"Yamato too, right?" Naruto asked.

"Yes,"

"Good." Naruto was relieved. Having the genes of the first hokage, Yamato was the only one who could control his transformations. His transformations were things that could put the whole team in danger. He had no control when he had four tails. Taking one last look at his hole, he followed Sakura to Tsunde's office.

She was wearing a black cloak, with white out-lined red clouds. It was a soft silk. And it was finally hers. All her life she had dreamed of pleasing the leaders of Ataksuki. Not only was she was the first girl, but the youngest as well, at only 14 years of age. Since they were having difficulty capturing the chakra of nine tails, and they had lost a few members, they thought to use her as a secret weapon. She smiled one last time, and then went through the big double doors to the leader's room.

Kneeling down, she removed her hood, revealing red hair tied back in a thick braid, piercing blue eyes, and emotionless expression. There was a man tied up in the middle of the room, she looked up at her master, the leader of Akasuki. The man who had raised her from infancy. The man who had set up her training, so that she was trained by every member of Akatsuki, which were most definitely the most skillful ninjas. It was because of this man, she was strong.

"Ari, this man has come trespassing around our hideout. Will you do the honors as the newest member of Akatsuki?" Her master asked her pleasantly. Without saying anything, Ari rose up, and walked towards the struggling man, slipping her weapon out of her belt on her way. When she walked into light where the man could see her best, she heard him say,

"Kushina?" She stared at him, her piercing eyes took him in, registering the green vest, with the leaf village sign on the back.

"Leaf Village." She said softly, her voice like a flute. "It will be a pleasure to take your life." And with that, she sliced his throat. She let him choke on his own blood. She turned towards her master, without one drop of the Leaf Village Ninja's blood on her cloak. He smiled at her.

"You may go Ari. You did splendidly." His words gave her a small shiver of satisfaction, but she gave no emotion away on her face. It had been much more satisfying to watch the man die. After she departed, the master said to the men sitting beside him,

"She's the perfect assassin isn't she." It wasn't a question.

"Yes sir." Were the answering murmurs.


	2. Chapter 2 A Gift

Chapter 2- The announcing of the stones

_Many people have thought the Sand Village or the Leaf Village to have to the most power, and skilled ninjas. But there was one other one, one much stronger then the two villages combined. It was called the "Village of the Mountains". They were located at the very top of the highest, nameless mountain. _

_For thousands of years, this village held the post of guarding the sacred orbs of fate These stones were infused with the chakra of the most powerful, ancient demons in the world. If placed in a certain position, these stones could cause mass destruction, without a handler to carry out their power, or if placed in a different kind of position, the stones could cause great good for the land. But, once started, the only person that would be spared was the person who last touched the stones. _

_Even if each orb was placed into a different sacred box, their chakra would leak, and infuse all of the people in a 100 mile radius with powerful chakra. This made the village strong, but after millennia or two, the villagers became greedy, and wanted more power. The priest, seeing the beginning of the village downfall, and the secret of the orbs in danger, summoned four birds of prey to take __Cthulhu, Lemnos, Yandara and Osharus to four different villages. _

_As he waited for the villagers to find him and end his life, the priest made one final wish to his God. That the orbs would never be found or figured, and be treated as some useless artifact. Knowing this final prayer was doomed to fail, he died with the satisfaction that if anyone ever found out about the stones in one of their villages, or the Mountain Village went on a hunt to get them back, they would be delayed by all four stones being separated. _

It happened while Naruto and Sakura were gone on a mission. The 5th Hokage, Tsunde, received a surprise when an abnormally large red tailed hawk landed on her desk.

Not one to scare easily, Tsunde untied the package the hawk was carrying. As soon as it was free of its burden, it flew out the window. Cautiously, Tsunde read the label. It said, "_A Gift_". No explosive notes so far. But during this time, while Ataksuki were at large, it was better to be safe then sorry. Running her hands along the package, she decided it was mobile. Picking it up gingerly, Tsunde left her office, heading towards the explosive team's office.

Ari walked down the cold hallways of the cave that had been her home since their old hideaway had been destroyed when Sasori died. Somehow, the Leaf Village had found their hideout. She let a cold smile slightly turn her lips. Persistent bunch. Suddenly, she sensed movement behind her. Tensing, Ari wheeled around, weapon in hand.

"Very good Ari," A dark figure said. Ari relaxed a tiny bit. It was only Itachi.

"Master Itachi," Ari responded in a cold neutral tone.

"Master wants to congratulate you on your performance today."

"Give him my thanks." Ari said, her eyes avoiding Itachi's.

"He thinks you're ready for a little mission." Itachi said.

"What kind of mission?" Ari asked suspiciously.

"He doesn't know yet. Deidara went undercover as the Leaf ninja you excuted. Whatever their plan is, he wants you to take a …part in our plan of action."

"Very well,"

"He also has something in mind for you right now. You are to report to him immediately." Without saying a word, Ari bowed, then walked by Itachi to return to the Atasuki's throne room, greatly annoyed that she had to go to her master's throne room practically just as she left it, and that she had to be so respectful to all Ataskui members.

"So, it wasn't a bomb then?" Tsunde asked.

"No Miss Hokage, it seems to be an innocent package," The explosives ninja said. At that moment, another explosives expert rushed into the room.

"I came as soon as I heard!" he said.

"Thank God, it's Master Aoi," The explosives ninja said, seeming relieved that if the box turned out to be something explosive, it wasn't his fault.

"Thank you, you may go." Aoi said, gesturing to the other ninja. After they were alone, Aoi turned his focus on the wooden box which had not yet been open. The tag caught his eye.

"A Gift," He read it. Carefully, he tapped his fingers across the box, listening for bombs. Using a scalpel- like tool, he gently popped the clasps holding the box together.

"Shouldn't you X-Ray it?"

"No need. I'm confident that this is no bomb." And to prove his point, he opened the wooden case all the way, to reveal red velvet lining, and a peculiar looking object in it. The object was green, and virtually smooth, with a pulsing green light.

"What is that?" Tsunde whispered.

"I don't know." Aoi said, gazing at the object with an intensity that Tsunde did not recognize.

Naruto Uzumaki hopped from tree to tree. The point of the mission had turned out to be a false tip. Now they were heading back to the Leaf Village for further instruction.

"That was a pointless mission," Sakura said, coming up beside him.

"I don't know, but don't you find this pointless mission a bit suspicious? I mean it feels like someone is trying to drag us away from the Leaf Village." Sai came up just behind Naruto with Yamato not far behind.

"I think Sai has a point," Yamato said. "I mean why would someone go as far fetched to make up a hiding place for Atatsuki in a supermarket? I mean we searched everyone we could for transforming jitsu, but there was nothing. We should hurry back."

"But why us? If I was a villain, I'd want Granny Tsunde out of there first."

"Naruto has a point," noted Sakura. "We not really a threat to anything or anyone by ourselves, especially if this is an Atatsuki thing."

"True… unless it's an ambush." Yamato said softly. Only Sai heard him, and looked at him worriedly.

"We're on the lookout." Sai said, and then looked ahead, his pace then a little more careful.

Meantime, Tsunde was still studying the green orb. Its pulsing light was beautiful, the stone itself was beautiful. But she had a deep sense of foreboding. Something about this orb just wasn't right. Carefully, she trailed her fingers along the orb. Suddenly a huge blast of chakra exploded from the orb, and sucked right into her. Tsunde was thrown back from the force of the power. Her sense of foreboding confirmed, she stood up and shut the case. This thing had to be ancient. It must be the history books somewhere.

Ari walked into the throne room, her gait long and graceful. She went to the centre part of the circular throne room, and kneeled down.

"Hello Ari," came her master's voice from the centre of all the thrones.

"Master." Ari answered, her eyes looking up to meet his, a tremble of fear passing through her quickly. All those who had sense feared this man, and stayed far away. But, those with no sense, were killed wordlessly, some, their bodies were used for undercover work in their villages.

"Ari, I have a proposition for you,"

"Yes?"

"We have had a plan for awhile to…remove Orchimaru from the scene." Her Master said.

"You want me to sneak into his hideout, and take care of the problem." Ari said. "But, any of you guys can do that."

"Some issues have come up. 2 years ago, a Leaf Village ninja betrayed his own village, and went to work for Orchimaru. His name is Saskue Uchiha."

"Master Itachi's brother?" Ari asked.

"Yes. Since Itachi killed his entire family, that boy's been hungry for revenge and power. He has a death wish hanging over all our heads Ari. All of our heads but yours."

"He doesn't even know I exist." Ari said.

"Exactly. We want you to go undercover. You are to apply to Orchimaru's ranks, and join his army. You will tell him the plot of the Leaf Village, in which you will be informed of when Deidara returns."

"So, you will inform me more of this when Master Deidara returns?"

"Yes Ari. You may go." Ari stood up, and left.

By the time Team Yamato/Kakashi returned, all of the upper ranks of the ninja village had been informed of the orbs presences, and its power. Letters were sent out everywhere, trying to determine if anyone else knew about the power of the stone. The Sand Village, The Leaf Village's Ally, replied saying that they too, had received such a Gift, except theirs was amber coloured. They were currently trying to find out more about it, and would get back to them when they learned anything more. Another Village, the Hidden Mist Village had 'generously' informed them of the blue orb that had come into their possession. _Three orbs?_ Tsunde wondered. Could there be more? But as the hours passed, the number stayed the same, three. Naruto, Sakura and Sai came into the Hakoge's office only to find Tsunde piled with books.

"Miss Tsunde, what's going on?" Sakura asked.

"We have received a mysterious gift. It seems to hold some sort of power."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Naruto asked,

"Yes, usually it would. But 2 other villages have received this 'gift' as well, all possessing the same physical traits, except for the colour. Here, look." The three young ninja saw a green orb, pulsing green light. Sai's eyes widened, making Naruto look at him questioningly. Sai turned and left the room without so much as a goodbye.

Ari appeared again later, sans her Atatsuki robe. She had replaced it with a brown, burlap- fabric one. Underneath the robe, she wore a hunter green tank top, and tight brown pants, as well as dark brown boots that ended just below the knee. Also, she wore two black gloves, which were tight until her wrist, and then loose. Her hair was still in its usual red, waist length braid. A brown weapons belt circled her waist, which included two long, skinny swords on each side. She also had a dagger belt on the side of her shin.

"Deidara has returned Ari, with some…very interesting news that will alter our plan slightly…"


	3. Chapter 3 The new spy

The spy had come.

Saskue Uchiha stood in the front hall. With him, the new spy/ student. The student was a girl, which was surprising enough, but she was also extremely pretty. Her hair was a dark red and a long braid, and her eyes were like two sapphires, flashing biting coolness. Her frame was thin and lithe and covered with a burlap cloak. She wore a hunter green tank top, brown pants, with knee length brown boots.

There was no conversation, as it usually was among this new life of his, except for the random interrogations he threw at the girl.

"So, you're here to serve Orchimaru?" Saskue asked the girl.

"Yes." The girl's voice was emotionless and cold, yet smooth and beautiful.

"State your name."

"Ari."

"What no last name?"

"No." Her eyes narrowed. He was about to retort, but a cold voice broke the silence.

"Ari! How nice of you to join our little family!" Orchimaru said, breaking through the large room.

"Thank you for welcoming me. I promise, I will not be a disappointment."

"I'm sure you won't. I see you've already met Saskue Uchiha. You will be joining his training program. I warn you though; we're not starting from basics."

"I understand." There was no trace of fear or intimidation in her eyes.

"I'm glad you do. Saskue, please escort our newest member to her room."

"Yes master. He didn't dare to disobey the man who had changed his life. Now, with his newly required strength, he could beat Itachi

--------------------------------------------------------

"What is that?" Naruto asked. He gazed into the green light of the orb.

"We don't really know." Tsunde replied.

"Can I touch it?"

"Wait, I don't think that's such a good-" But Naruto had already touched the orb. He was thrown back into a wall.

"Naruto, are you okay?" Sakura asked, rushing over to help him up.

"I think so…"

"Stupid."

"Children…" Sai said, "Let's not fight."

"Why you..!" Naruto pretended to lunge. Instead of punching him, he slapped Sai a bit harder then necessary on the back.

"Ow…"

"Tsunde," Sakura asked, "Could this be connected to the Atasuki?"

"I don't think so… from what I've been able to determine, the orb is a power source, like a chakra re-fuelling station almost. Our experts have determined that this is not a bomb…"

"Deidara is very talented at making bombs though…"

"But this orb doesn't have any explosive properties, unless touched. Even then, it just belts out an enormous amount of chakra that could support this entire village."

"Then what is it?"

"I have an idea of what it is. I found something similar to this in the first's village entries."

"What?"

"According to my findings, we could have one of the orbs of fate. There are 4 in total. These orbs are the spirits of powerful demons from hell. If arranged in a certain way, they could cause the end of the world, but if arranged in a different way, they could cause the world great good. At least that's how the legend goes."

"Granny Tsunde, you said there were four. Do you know where the others are?"

"We currently know that the Sand Village has one, as well as the Fire and Water Village. We are going to dispatch troops to each village to tell them of our findings."

"What happened to mail?"

"If intercepted by the wrong person, this could be a very bad thing. No one can know that we might potentially have the orbs of fate."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three Weeks Later….

Ari dodged the weapon aimed at her by Saskue. This was child's play. This was Orchimaru's definition of hard training. She had done this when she was ten, one on one combat, with various booby traps hidden around the arena.

She looked around quickly, infusing her eyes with chakra so she could see better. Her new maximized vision spotted a piece of disturbed earth. That would be a booby trap. She thought about manipulating it on to Saskue. Bad idea. He would probably discover it with his Sharingan technique, and move away when it was set off, leaving one less booby trap to her advantage. She sailed easily through the wide space, using chakra to make herself movie faster. She drew her swords from her weapon belt, and pushed herself off a wall towards Saskue. He intercepted her first blow. That was his demise. She turned back, and came at him with more speed, crossing the blades in a move that would usually cut his throat. But, since this was training, she caught the shoulders of his clothes and adding more speed, but pinned him against the wall in a show of dust and rocks.

"Ari… you're unstoppable." Orchimaru said, giving her a round of applause. Not taking the compliment, she pulled her swords from the wall and Saskue's shirt and put them back into their sheaths, without so much as a glance at Saskue. He was battered, bruised and angry. He wasn't accustomed to being beaten, especially by a girl. She turned around, and started to walk back to her room, assuming training was over. She'd been here for about 3 weeks now, and day in and day out was boring. She sharpened her swords once a day now, something she hadn't done since she first got them. She had even done some extra training of her own, by furthering her perfection of her dagger throws. Deciding that going back to her room wasn't what she felt like doing right now, she veered off to go to the target practice room. She unsheathed her dagger, and threw it at the nearest target. Without stopped, she put her arm out to the side, and opened her hand. The dagger came back, the black hilt fitting back nicely in her hand. Like it belonged there. Ari stopped to observe it. She traced the white designs on the blood red blade. She was still mystified on what the blade was made out of. It wasn't made out of metal, but more like a polished, extremely lightweight mineral or element. It had been a gift from her master, for this mission. She dedicated her time to master it. So far, she'd mastered summoning it back from short distances, but she wasn't that good at long distances yet. It also had to be with the right amount of chakra, or the dagger would slice her fingers off when it came back. According to her master, it had another speciality. If you stabbed another thing, such as a human, with this dagger, the victim would not be able to pull out the dagger, no matter how hard it tried. It would slowly bleed to death, or it would take someone else to pull out the dagger. She had yet to test this theory. She wished she could test it on Saskue, but killing him would ruin the mission, and anger Itachi, for Itachi wanted to slay his brother himself. Saskue would without a doubt die in the first few seconds in a fight with his brother. Even with the extra training from Orchimaru, he was still no where near his brother's power, even with his brother going blind.

"What are you doing Ari?" Orchimaru again. This guy must stalk her or something.

"Practicing my dagger throws. It's not like there are other things to do here."

"I know, and I'm deeply sorry for that. How would you like to go on a little mission?" Ari was instantly alert. She sheathed her dagger.

"Solo mission?"

"No, with Saskue. You two are my new….representatives out there."

"You mean the people who do your dirty work." Ari stated, turning to look at Orchimaru.

"Yes."

"What's the mission?"

"Well, my spy at the Water Village has told me that they have received an Orb of Fate."

"What's an Orb of Fate?"

"You don't need to know that. Anyways, the Leaf Village has been sending groups everywhere to tell the villages what the Orbs are. My spy said that the Sand Village has one, as well as the Leaf Village and the Fire Village." Ari bristled with anger when she heard the Leaf Village. They had killed Sasori.

"What are the Orbs of Fate? If I'm retrieving something, I would like to know what it is."

"That knowledge is not needed to obtain them." Orchimaru repeated. Ari glared at him. She had the familiar urge to kill. So she just nodded her head, and went to her room, where she disguised herself with the transformation jitu to go and see Atatsuki.

-------------------------------------------------------

Saskue was humiliated. The new girl had beaten him every one on one combat since she came here. And now he was going to have to work with her? He was furious. Well, part of him was anyways. The other part (which he hated to admit) admired the girl. She had the cool levelness and skill that made her an assassin. She had no true bonds that affected her state of mind during battle. She could probably kill her best friend, if she had one. If he had that state of mind, Naruto Uzumaki would be dead by now. Standing up, he started to look for his mission clothes. The ridiculous clothes that he had to wear in Orchimaru's hideout drew too much attention. Undercover was the best way to go. Every ninja knew that.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ari was kneeling before the Atatsuki leaders. She had just informed them of Orchimaru's plan.

"Well done Ari. We knew about this, but only a few details. Apparently our late Leaf Village ninja was the leader of the bomb squad, and wasn't high enough up the levels to know what the Orb was. You have just filled in the blanks. The plan has not changed. Once Orchimaru gets all these orbs, bring them to us."

"Yes master." Ari said, "May I ask one question?"

"Yes." The voice was irritated.

"What are the Orbs of fate?"

"If you've read any leader's notes from about 100 years ago you'd know. The orbs of fate are…"

--------------------------------------------------------

2 days later…………

Naruto, Sakura, Sai, Kakashi and Yamoto were standing in the Hokage's office again. They were about to be debriefed about their newest mission.

"It's just as we feared. The water village was brutally attacked, their orb stolen."

"Were there any survivors?" Naruto asked.

"Few. The one who gave his statement gave us a description of two ninjas. One was male, the other female."

"Two ninja's brought down an entire village?"

"There may have been others, it's just that our witness didn't see them."

"What was the description?"

"Male: Tall, black hair, brown eyes, Female: Average height, dark red hair, blue eyes, and apparently extremely pretty."

Naruto and Sakura glanced at each other. The male description resembled Saskue. Any lead they got on him, they would follow.

"Could it be Orchimaru?" Sai asked.

"It's our best assumption. He must have gotten a new member. But according to our witness, the girl was clearly a trained assassin. The way she killed, it was without hesitation, and she had a bunch of fancy weapons apparently. His friend was stabbed with a dagger, and couldn't pull it out. He bled to death." Tsunde said.

"Did he have an estimate for the age?" Yamoto asked.

"Late teens, 16 or 17."

"Basically our age then." Sakura said.

"Basically."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Naruto asked.

"After I finish debriefing all the other teams your level, I'm going to dispatch you all to the Fire Village. Sand Village is on high alert, and as are we. But we think the Fire Village is most likely the next target, being the closest."

An hour later, they all left.

-----------------------------------------------------------------


	4. Chapter 4 Raid and Spark

Chapter 4: Raid on the Water Village

Ari's POV

_I can't believe I killed all those people. I mean, I'm an assassin, but I've never killed so many at once, or have such a thought after. What was my mother like? Did she leave me behind? Or did she die trying to protect me? Is my family still alive? Do I have a brother? A sister? Do I have a room at my family's house waiting for me if I come back? Do my parents cry about me? Do they still think of me? Dream of me? Which village did I come from? Questions swirled by brain only to go unanswered. For 17 years it hadn't bothered me. Why was it bothering me now?_

POV ended

2 weeks ago…

Saskue waited impatiently for his partner. When Ari finally came out, she was wearing a blue robe over her mission outfit, which brought out her blue eyes. Saskue found himself admiring the way she looked in that blue robe, and then mentally punched himself. This wasn't the way he was supposed to think. He, himself wore a blue robe as well.

When Ari finally came out, she saw Saskue impatiently waiting for her. He stared at her for 30 seconds, and then looked away, turning red. But, Ari was not one to blush easily. Or show emotion whatsoever. She hadn't smiled or raised her voice since she had gotten here. Walking up to Saskue she said,

"We should go; it takes 1 full day to reach the Water Village." Saskue nodded, and then they just left. Shouldering their packs, filled with clothes on top, and weapons on the bottom, they started to run.

One hour later…

"How old are you?" Saskue asked.

"17,"

"Where do you come from?"

"Everywhere. I don't really have a home."

"What happened to your parents?"

"I don't know." Ari replied honestly.

"Who raised you?"

"Some person who found me," Ari said becoming irritated with these questions. She didn't even know how she came to live with the Atatsuki. She had no idea who and where her parents were. It hadn't bothered her. She was comfortable with her life as a Member of Atatsuki. She would rather not talk, but she wanted to get the topic of her.

"How old are you?"

"17,"

"Where do you come from?"

"Leaf Village," He replied. Ari felt her self convulse with hatred inside. Her hand twitched towards her weapon as was her reflex reaction when someone upset her. Mission. Ari took a deep breath and continued.

"What happened to your parents?"

"My brother killed them," Oh yeah, Itachi's brother. She almost laughed at the hatred on his face. It was a revenge that would get him killed.

"Why?"

"To test his strength." Ari almost smiled. It's what made Itachi a member of Atatsuki. And the master of techniques. He was the best at illusions.

"Where is he now?" Ari asked, playing dumb.

"Atatsuki," he replied. Ari wondered why he was being so chatty. He probably hadn't had anyone to talk to until she came. Then again, neither had she. It was probably always topics concerning someone they had to kill, or training. But it was the way she grew up, so it hadn't bothered her. She found this small talk awkward.

"I think I've heard of them," She said.

"Yeah," He said again. Ari left it at that. He was an ex- Leaf Village ninja. The 'ex' part helped her tolerate him. But Leaf Village Ninjas were just so nosey. Why couldn't they just concern themselves with what was going on in their own village, and just let Atatsuki do the things necessary to strengthen the world by becoming their leaders? She didn't know the Leaf Ninjas who had killed Sasori, or the one that had blown off Deidara's arm and sent it to another dimension. She had never truly liked anyone, or considered them a friend. But she knew the meaning of teamwork. Atatsuki was all divided into pairs, which worked together, and accomplished missions. They were all connected in the way they fought, but yet, they couldn't care less what happened to one another. It was more circumstances and convenience that held the group together. Which is why Ari was furious that The Leaf Village had disrupted that connection, causing Atatsuki to be thrown off balance, and it had slowed their plans. Deidara now worked on his own, but less efficient without Sasori and two mechanical arms.

"What else have you heard about Atatsuki?"

"Nothing," Ari said.

"They're collecting the chakra of the demon/humans, like this one guy in the Leaf Village, named Naruto Uzumaki, and Gaara, the leader of the Sand Village." Naruto Uzumaki. Ari had heard of him from the meetings, but she had never seen him. He was the owner of the 9 tailed fox chakra. That's about all she knew about him. She had only been to two meetings of Atatsuki. Gaara she knew about.

"Interesting," Ari said. She didn't bring up any other questions or topics. She just stared at the path ahead of her until they arrived at the Water Village.

Orchimaru's spy took them in as his 'niece and nephew'. When night fell, Ari and Saskue changed into black ninja clothes, and fastened their weapon belts on. They put the masks on. Orchimaru's spy left the village, so he wouldn't be caught in the line of fire. Saskue and Ari leaped over buildings until they got to the Temple where the Orb was held. Ari's eyes' narrowed at the building. Atatsuki had told her what the Orbs of Fate were. They would have to do it efficiently, and quickly. They hopped down to the door, and killed the 6 guards there before anyone blinked or sounded the alarm. Ari kicked open the door, and threw her dagger at the shocked priest standing at the alter. It hit him in the chest. Ari watch him, transfixed by his attempts to pull out the dagger, but not succeeding. She turned away, and saw Saskue standing at the alter, ready to take the Orb out of the box.

"Uchiha! No! Don't touch it!" But it was too late. There was an explosion of blue chakra, and Saskue was thrown though the wall, which caused a disturbance among the village. Extra security was coming. Ari closed the box, and held her hand out to summon the dagger from the priest's chest. She wiped the blood on some nearby cloth, and sheathed it. She put the box in her pack, and yelled at Saskue to come. He came stumbling out, and Ari grabbed a candle, and set the curtains of the Temple on fire. Hopefully it would distract the people long enough for them to make their escape.

"What the hell were you thinking? Now our cover's blown." While she was yelling at Saskue, something metal skimmed the top of her head and embedded in the wall in behind them, along with her mask. She looked at Saskue, and saw that his mask had been destroyed when he got hit by the chakra. She unsheathed her dagger and threw it at the nearest ninja. She then unsheathed her swords and cut the rest's throats. She saw Saskue take down one at the door. At least he was helping. Summoning her dagger, she and Saskue ran through the door, only to be greeted by a crowd of people with various household weapons. All of the villagers could see their faces. There's not a choice, Ari thought, we'll have to kill them all so they can't tell. In three swift movements, she hit a man in the throat with her dagger, and slit the throat of another. Saskue followed her suite, and took down five men with 5 expertly aimed kunai. Ari summoned her dagger to throw it again. It hit the guy in the chest. Like the priest, he tried to pull it out, but only made the wound bigger by jostling the dagger. Ari found a woman and a child hiding in the corner.

" Please! Spare us!" The woman begged, "Or at least the life of my child!" Ari killed them anyways. After she did, she suddenly felt repulsive. Had her mother tried to protect her like that? Shaking the thought from her head, she ran. And she didn't finish off the man behind her. Saskue saw her run, and followed her, the burning village glowing behind them.

Ari viciously threw her dagger at the target. But then, the targets started to resemble the mother and child she killed, so she stopped doing that. She tried to take a nap, but fire and blood filled her dreams so she stopped doing that. She dunked her head in a bucket of cold water, and that seem to clear her head. The mission. That was the most important thing right now. She could have an identity crisis later.

After training, Orchimaru gave them the next village which had the next orb. It was the Fire Village.

" If you could make it a little less… conspicuous that would be better…now people are on their top guard. The Fire Village will be much harder. There might be complications though… The Leaf Village might make an appearance now…" Ari and Saskue breathed in sharply. The Leaf Village was like a taboo for them. They were both uptight about what would come next. In week, they would go to the Fire Village.


	5. Chapter 5 Raid

When Naruto and everyone else arrived at the Fire Village, extreme security measures were being taken. Locks and seals were being put on the door of the High Security room. Naruto and others were posted at various parts of the village, with radios so they could warn them if they saw anyone matching the description of the attackers of the Water Village.

"How long are we going to do this? The assassins could just wait for us to leave…" Naruto said to Sakura and Sai.

"Let's just hope they don't suspect anything has happened from the last village attack that they didn't know someone survived." Sakura said. But she too, looked worried. Naruto stared at Sakura. She had been his best friend for years, and he had loved her longer then that. Even though, she seemingly wasn't occupied with thoughts of Saskue, she still had the distant personality, like she was afraid to close to anyone; because she was afraid they would leave to go to the dark side and try to kill their other friends. It didn't make it any easier that Ino was talking about Saskue through her radio, so everyone could hear her.

"Okay… who wants to go shut Ino up?" Naruto asked. As if on cue, Shikamaru screamed through the radio,

"SHUT UP INO!" Then came the usually argument between Ino and Shikamaru. Chouji would play referee for the first 10 minutes, then would open a bag of chips, and sit down, while everyone else struggled to tune them out.

As night fell, everyone tensed….waiting for the action.

Saskue and Ari hid behind a building. The Leaf Village ninjas were here. This was going to be hard. Saskue narrowed his eyes when he saw Naruto, Sakura and Sai. They jumped up onto a building, and crouched there, until Ari spotted something that looked like a mouse scurried under their legs. At first, she took nothing of it, until she saw the mouse scurried to the guy wearing a belly shirt and melt onto the paper. Damn. Nodding to Saskue, they switched roofs, and jumped into a sparse tree. Hopefully the night would conceal them long enough to devise a distraction.

"They're here," Sai whispered. Naruto and Sakura looked up quickly, and tensed even more.

"They have been spotted; I repeat they have been spotted!" Naruto whispered into his mic. He didn't hear anyone reply. They were getting ready. Suddenly there were sounds of a stuggle, and then a thump. Crap. Naruto didn't want to say anything into the mic, just in case he gave away the positions of the others. He locked eyes with Sakura. She looked scared.

"Everyone, this is Yamoto! Do you read me?" There were murmured replies. Naruto heard everyone, and breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't one of their own.

"Yes Yamoto," Sakura said, speaking into her own mic.

"They are in the security tower. They sent shadow clones as decoys. Every get over here quickly!" Naruto, Sai, and Sakura looked at each other for a second, before jumping up, and sprinting to the high security tower.

Ari knocked down the set of doors. Her earlier issues were forgotten, she was back to her normal self. The self which didn't care about killing people. They had taken down about 16 guards to get here. As she disabled the seals on the last door, Saskue broke the locks. He then kicked down the door, and they arrived at their destination.

A sudden movement behind them startled Ari for a millisecond. She and Saskue whirled around weapons ready. Leaf Village ninjas.

"Saskue?" One of them stepped forward. He had spiky blonde hair, and blue eyes. Familiar blue eyes.

"Naruto," Saskue stated, coolness creeping into his voice. His eyes widened as a familiar ninja appeared behind them. Kakashi.

Kakashi wasn't at all surprised to see Saskue there. He had suspected Orchimaru all along. But it was Saskue's partner that surprised him. That red hair, that face…He took a step forward. The girl tensed her weapons.

"Kushina?" Kakashi asked. He came closer, and looked closer. Wait, the eyes were wrong. They were blue, like…could it be? The girl shook. She grabbed her dagger, and in one fluid movement threw it at him. The dagger hit his shirt at his shoulder, and pinned him against the wall. Naruto and the others leaped at her. She dodged neatly with familiar grace. She threw her kunai, and it hit Naruto in the shoulder. But this one drew blood. When Sakura aimed a punch at her, the girl stopped it with her mere hands, causing Sakura and her to be in a locked position. The girl then pushed, Sakura flew backwards. She deflected everyone who came at her, even if they came in threes. During this time, Saskue had gathered the Orb and its contents into its box.

"Ari, let's go!" Saskue said urgently. After punching Naruto in the gut, the girl reached out her hand, and the dagger that had still been embedded in Kakashi's shirt flew into her outstretched palm. She and Saskue jumped out the window. So it was Ari… that was something Kakashi needed to check with Tsunde.

Ari and Saskue ran, their mission completed. Ari's mind was wheeling.

"Who was that guy? Did he know me or something? He called me Kushina!"

"You can't be Kushina." Saskue said. But he thought he was starting to come to the conclusion that Kakashi came to.

"Who, Why, Huh?"

"Kushina's Naruto Uzumaki's mother. She died of a snake bite not long after he was born."

"Oh." Ari said nothing more. But her mind was wheeling. She felt sadness, pain, hope, and anger. So she did what she did when she needed to sort herself out. Stopped talking all together, and focus on turning off her emotions.

Saskue watched as Ari's face became blank. He suspected more to her story, but who was he to pry? He wondered what it was like for her, not knowing anything about your past. Would she have turned out to be the same, emotionless girl, or would she of become someone totally different? He stole a glance at her. This girl confused and fascinated him beyond comprehension.


End file.
